The need to apply benefit/risk analysis with regard to the anti-seismic design of engineered facilities is addressed. It involves quantitative evaluation of the benefits to be achieved by more stringent requirements for resistance to earthquakes and systematic approaches to assembling and portraying this information so that it may be used as a basis for decision making. Presented is a general methodology based on three major types of effort: hazard exposure analysis; quantification of the relationships between design requirements and cost of the facility and resistance to damage; and evaluation of all costs and losses. A pilot application to the choice of lateral force requirements for buildings is described, and some of the problems that must be faced in applying this methodology in the field of lifeline earthquake engineering are considered. Included are a flow diagram outlining the methodology and a table of possible general design guidelines for lifelines.